The influence of various deposition techniques on the photoelectrochemical properties of the titanium dioxide thin film
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The influence of various deposition techniques on the photoelectrochemical properties of the titanium dioxide thin film M. Morozova • P. Kluson • P. Dzik • M. Vesely • M. Baudys • J. Krysa • O. Solcova
Received: 26 October 2012 / Accepted: 28 December 2012 / Published online: 12 January 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Thin sol–gel TiO2 layers deposited on the conductive ITO glass by means of three various deposition techniques (dip-coating, inkjet printing and spray-coating) were used as photoanode in the three-compartment electrochemical cell. The thin TiO2 films were treated at 450 °C and after calcination all samples possessed the crystallographic form of anatase. The relationship between surface structure and photo-induced conductivity of the nanostructured layers was investigated. It was found that the used deposition method significantly influenced the structural properties of prepared layers; mainly, the formation of defects and their quantity in the prepared films. The surface properties of the calcined layers were determined by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, AFM, UV–Vis analyses and by the optical microscopy. The photo-induced properties of nanoparticulate TiO2/ITO photoanode were studied by electrochemical measurements combined with UV irradiation. Keywords Titanium dioxide Dip-coating Inkjet printing Spray-coating Photo-electrochemical properties
M. Morozova (&) P. Kluson O. Solcova Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the ASCR, v. v. i., Rozvojova 2/135, Prague 6 165 02, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] P. Dzik M. Vesely Faculty of Chemistry, Brno Univesity of Technology, Purkynova 464/118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic M. Baudys J. Krysa ICT Prague, Department of Inorganic Technology, Technicka 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
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1 Introduction The photovoltaic effect was discovered in 1839 by French physicist A. E. Becquerel and since this time the idea of converting the sunlight into the electric power has evoked a great interest [1]. In the generation of electric current the photovoltaic effect consists of material which is actually a semiconductor exposed to the light. The absorbed photons with corresponding energy create the electron–hole pairs and at the junction between two different materials an electric potential difference can be set up [2]. The electrons then take a part of the current in an external electrical circuit. Thanks to these photo-excited properties titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been the very favoured semiconductor for such studies. TiO2 has become very attractive material since 1972, when Fujishima and Honda [3] described its photocatalytic activity. Unfortunately, TiO2 absorbs only the UV light part of the solar spectrum owing to its large band gap. Low efficiency of the solar energy conversion by this semiconductor oxide similarly as the limited activity (only in the UV area) are crucial and do not enable to develop the application for the effective conversion of sunlight to electrical power. Nev
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